


The Nest Between Them

by Curator



Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Episode: s01e10 Et in Arcadia Ego Part 2, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Kal-toh, Missing Scene, Motherhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23485324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Curator/pseuds/Curator
Summary: It’s not a game.(A missing scene fic forEt in Arcadia Ego, Part 2— a.k.a. the hand-hold that launched a thousand fanfics).
Relationships: Raffi Musiker/Seven of Nine
Comments: 27
Kudos: 96





	The Nest Between Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_goofball](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_goofball/gifts).



> For the_goofball, who willed this ship into existence through sheer force of gifs, then had the unique pleasure of having it come true.

“Kal-toh?”

Raffi’s eyes shifted from the game to the blonde human settling into the seat across from her. “You play?”

“I haven’t in years,” Seven glanced at the jumble of silver rods, “but I remember the objective …”

They said it together, “... finding the seeds of order in the midst of profound chaos.”

“‘Profound chaos.’” Raffi twirled a rod between her fingers. “Story of my life.”

“‘Looking for order.’” Seven shrugged. “Story of mine.” 

Raffi had heard of Seven, of course. When _Voyager_ got home, most of the crew became famous — or infamous. The Federation’s actions toward the former Maquis were still debated in Starfleet Academy ethics classes. Seven had been a media darling, though, always on the arm of her former captain, until Seven’s criticisms of Starfleet got her booted from Officers’ Clubs all the way to the fringes of the quadrant.

But meeting Seven in person, seeing the curve of breasts and hips that had only existed in newsvids, noting the subtle chin flinches that marked her as an xB, admiring the woman’s goddamn _presence_ that filled a room but still had Raffi aching for more? That was a hell of a thing when it happened and had been rattling in Raffi’s brain ever since.

She placed the rod and the Kal-toh board shimmered.

Pale fingers hesitated over another rod. “May I?”

Raffi leaned back, hands open.

At Seven’s removal and re-positioning, the Kal-toh board shimmered again but didn’t form the perfect sphere that was the game’s objective.

“Five moves,” the women breathed.

Seven’s ocular implant shifted upward. “You’re pretty damn good at Kal-toh for someone who isn’t Vulcan.”

Fuck. Raffi didn’t want to talk about this. She wouldn’t talk about this.

“It’s because of my son.”

She was talking about it.

“He, uh, he was one of those human kids that pretended to be Vulcan. ‘Nothing unreal exists’ and all that.” Raffi’s hand split in the Vulcan salute and she pretended the gesture meant she wasn’t breathing too fast, blinking too fast, thinking too fast. “Kal-toh was the only game he would play with me”

Seven’s head cocked. “Why?”

Raffi waved away the question. “Kids.”

The women stared at the nest of Kal-toh rods that formed the game. 

Raffi’s chest rose and fell. Damn, what she wouldn’t give for a snakeleaf horgi, for Saurian brandy, for a bottle of Chateau Picard.

No.

No, that’s not the way she would live her life anymore. 

No more hiding.

“That was a lie.” Her dark hand reached for a rod. “I wasn’t the best mom. I get sorta passionate, you know? Deep, emotional dives into stuff that interests me. I didn’t mean to, but I drove my son away.”

Seven’s eyes met Raffi’s.

Had they always been so blue, so open, so goddamn non-judgmental? Had they ever before dipped to Raffi’s own chest, then to the fingers that twirled another Kal-toh rod in what had been nerves but was becoming hope?

Raffi placed the rod and the Kal-toh board shimmered.

“This game isn’t about logic.” Seven pulled a rod, her eyes still locked on Raffi’s. “That’s something Vulcans tell themselves because they don’t want to admit they’re having fun.”

The rod slid from Seven’s fingers into the nest. The board shimmered as she continued. 

“Kal-toh is about spatial harmonics. Each functional change to the board is the sum of what came before. As long as the Kal-toh is incomplete, the rods have a chance to form a sphere. The way to get there isn’t predetermined.”

The heat in Raffi’s chest threatened to spill upward into her cheeks. “You’re saying anything can happen?”

Seven motioned for Raffi to take her turn. “As long as you and your son are both alive, then yeah, I’m saying anything can happen.”

But Raffi didn’t want the game anymore. She wanted to get lost in eyes that didn’t judge. She wanted to peel back the layers of pain that couldn’t smother Seven’s optimism. She wanted the touch of someone who accepted her flaws and gave her hope.

So, instead of reaching for the game board, Raffi reached for Seven.

And when Seven’s fingers laced in hers, Raffi held on tight.


End file.
